Patrick Jones thinks big. The hardworking steward of the Plymouth Pillars off-leash dog park just above I-5 set about finding a project to activate the usually-empty triangle of pavement to the south of his park in front of the namesake pillars. With some elbow grease and plenty of e-mail with the City, Jones managed to arrange use of the park through the summer for a Friday concert series — every Friday from July 1 through August 26th. That’s nine Fridays to fill. And when we write fill, we mean it. Jones has the park OK’d for music from 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM and 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM.

So, Jones tells us, he could use your help. Now until June 17th, he’s looking for acoustic acts to help fill the pillar-lined pocket park with music. No electric band action. We’re talking tubas, trombones and xylophones here. Probably a guitar. Maybe some maracas.

Without somebody to play the music, it won’t be much of a concert series. And while the goals might be a little overly ambitious, it sounds like a rare opportunity to take another space in the busy city and make it a people place for part of the day. Given how much he’s bitten off, we’re betting Jones wouldn’t mind help from others beyond just finding musical acts. 

Jones is calling the series C Squared — or Concerts at the Columns. He has performances from the nearby Northwest School and Seattle University lined up for the first weeks. After that? I think your guitar trio is scheduled for week three.

Plymouth Pillars Park by mcoughlin.

Looking for acoustical musicians young and old who want some exposure to just play and have fun with that godly talent given to you and share with the capital hill area all for free so contact Patrick Jones 206 913 7261 or [email protected] DEAD LINE JUNE 17th 2011 sorry no Bands due to sound challenges that the city in forces so understand the event ,If you need power that will be available NO stages lets keep it as simple for you as we can !For those who are not familiar with the area its on the corner of PIKE and BOREN trying to give the students from Northwest school and Seattle University Music dept for the afternoon concert first but after a week or so will open that slot to all!

Seattle Fire and SPD are responding to a man found with a stab wound to his chest on 11th Ave at Cal Anderson Park. No further details at this time. More as we get it. UPDATE: SPD report on the incident is below.

In a tweet just in from somewhere in northeastern Capitol Hill, @fbaum asks:

Nobody lost a turkey. But we want to know if that guinea fowl is for pest control. Or dinner? Both?

On the rainiest day in June so far, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and City Council members Sally Clark and Nick Licata joined Capitol Hill Housing’s Chris Persons in a Wednesday afternoon press conference to announce details of the 12th Ave Arts development agreement reported by CHS this morning.

The mayor said the city will transfer ownership of the East Precinct parking lot on 12th near Pine to Capitol Hill Housing in a deal that is still being worked out with the non-profit housing developer that will include city ownership of new parking facilities in the planned mixed-use development.

McGinn called past barriers to the plan over the past 10 years a “log jam” that the City had now overcome due to a better financial opportunity to create the SPD parking facility and a “spirit of collaboration” exhibited by the various departments involved in the deal with CHH. No money from Seattle’s general fund will be spent on the project.

Rain drops drizzling down his back, Persons called Capitol Hill “an economic engine” of Seattle and said the $38 million project represents the economic, community and cultural needs of the neighborhood.

Persons said financing for the project must still be secured and said he hopes to have that plan in place by this time next year. The executive director said he expects a mix of sources to be put into play to pay for the development including tax credit, levy dollars, state programs and some commercial bank loans. He also announced that the 12th Ave Arts capital campaign has already received its first donation — $500,000 from an unnamed Seattle foundation.

Depending on how things go on the money side of things, groundbreaking could occur in late 2012.

If there’s one question guaranteed to cause most Capitol Hill folk to think carefully before answering (and even then, usually hesitantly), it’s got to be this one: Pike, or Pine? Quick! – Toys In Babeland – Pike or Pine?? (Well, uh, I used to pass by it on the way to QFC, so it must be the south one – wait, was that before or after I turned near R-Place? – after, I think, which means it’s not the one with N in it so… Pike – I think?) The Question has even inspired its own quiz show parody.

After living here a few years, I eventually figured that it’s easier to just refer to both as the same street, a notional Pikeorpine Street (“The sandwich place? It’s definitely on Pikeorpine.”), as though it’s not actually two separate streets, but perhaps really a quantum superposition of two streets that only resolves into one street or the other when you actually set foot there. (One benefit of this Pikeorpine technique is that it still works even if someone swaps the signs around as an April Fools’ Day prank…)

But it wasn’t always that way. The portions of Pike and Pine East of Melrose were originally known as Choat (or Choate) and Gould streets – and they weren’t even originally connected to their downtown counterparts. Choate and Gould initially grew out of Broadway, and only later on – with a bit of regrading – did they meet up with the actual downtown Pike and Pine streets.

Back in the late 1800’s, Seattle was a crazy patchwork of land claims, with much of the area around what would eventually become Pike and Broadway being claimed by a John A Nagle (pronounced ‘nail’). As these claims were platted, some used names consistent with the surrounding plats, others didn’t: what would eventually become Pike street changed name from Pike St to Choat (or Choate) St to Blakely St, back to Choate (or Choat) St and finally Johnson (or Johnston) Ave as it headed Eastwards, while Pine changed from Pine to Gould to Mastick, back to Gould and ended as Warren streets.

All that changed in 1895, when city finally had enough, and with The Great Renaming of 1895 (not it’s official name – but it does sound much better than City Ordinance 4044…) declared that all of Choat(e), Blakely and so on would be known as Pike, and that all of Gould and co would be considered to be Pine – and thus in resolving one problem, another (though perhaps lesser) problem was born.

All the same, while it might have been slightly easier to remember Choat apart from Gould (and would have resulted in signage less prone to April Fool’s pranks), the “Choat/Gould neighborhood” just doesn’t have the same ring to it that Pike/Pine has.

Brendan McKeon is a budding amateur historian and volunteer tour guide with the Seattle Architecture Foundation, and will be giving their Pike/Pine walking tour this weekend, and at three other dates this season.

More on Barbara Ireland’s big week on the Hill

The weather is supposed to bee-yootiful. See you out there. Don’t forget to add your organization / business / club / theater / etc. events to the CHS Calendar.

UPDATE: A few bonus additions here.

Reminder: Saturday, June 11th is Capitol Hill Garage Sale Day. You can still register your sale for the big day (free!) at http://capitolhillgaragesale.com through the week. Maps and more coming soon!

Wednesday, June 1

• Calf & Kid and Poco team up for a Cheese & Wine Party
• Home buyer workshop by Coldwell Banker Bain
• Barbara Ireland DVD release event at Northwest Film Forum
• Ada’s Technical Books celebrates its first birthday:
  

  Discounts all day on Wednesday: 20% off used books, 10% off everything else in the store
  Free food and soda tasting from 6-10pm.

  Also, starting today, Ada’s will be open from 10am-10pm every day until the end of summer (Labor Day).

• Help determine the future of the Volunteer Park playground

Thursday, June 2

• Time to warm up and stretch. Pride Kickoff Party at Lobby
• Pinot tasting and sale at 12th and Olive Wine
• SuLei Cellars event at Vino Verite
• Amos Oz film at Roy Street Coffee

Friday, June 3

• Captain Smartypants in ‘Eat, Pray, Pant’ at Town Hall Seattle (all weekend)
• Product Runway styles up Showbox SoDo
• The Gene Pool opens at the Annex Theatre
• Artusi opens at 14th and Pine. UPDATE: Slight delay
• Seattle True Independent Film Festival opens

Saturday, June 4

• Capitol Hill Night Market street food pod celebrates opening night at Harvard and Pike. Details: http://www.caphillnightmarket.com/
• Seattle Architecture Foundation Pike/Pine tour
• Central District garden tour
• Seattle Girls Choir: Spring Concert at Town Hall
• Irish folk band U2 plays Qwest
• Punk Rock Flea Market in Belltown
• Fat Cats vs. Muffin Tops benefit for Lambert House
• The Confectional grand opening
• 520 bridge closed
• GameStop’s planned opening day on Broadway

Sunday, June 5

• Broadway Farmers Market at Pine and Broadway. 11a-3p.
• Seattle Intuitive Fair

Mixed-use development on Capitol Hill is so hot, even the Seattle Police Department is getting in on the game. In a plan years in the making, the City of Seattle and Capitol Hill Housing will Wednesday afternoon announce a partnership that will transform the East Precinct parking lot on 12th Ave near E Pine into a mixed-use development with more than 80 units of housing, community meeting space, retail, arts space, and underground parking for SPD.

We first reported on the 12th Ave Arts version of the plan back in January but efforts to re-make the space had started — and stopped — repeatedly over the past decade. We first reported on CHH’s push for the project in 2008.

View Larger Map

One major sticking point had been the parking infrastructure and concerns over the cost and the number of spaces the project would need to provide. The East Precinct currently parks 70 cars on the 12th Ave lot and another 30 on a private lot at 14th and Pine, according to Norma Jean Straw of the Capitol Hill Community Council who has helped represent the Hill in the push to make the 12th Ave project happen. According to Straw, the project has been delayed for two years due to debate over the number of parking spaces that are financially feasible in the development. SPD has said it will need around 150 spaces in any development. We have questions out to the department and the City for more information on how this issue worked out.

More details on the project will be announced at a Wednesday afternoon press conference scheduled to take place at the East Precinct parking lot at 1:30 PM. The goal had been to achieve the development without City funds. Mayor Mike McGinn — who reportedly first agreed to meet on the project during a Capitol Hill walking tour last year — will speak as will Capitol Hill Housing head Chris Persons.